Astrobiology News

Mars was Habitable for Methanogenic Microorganisms 3.7 Billion Years Ago, Study Suggests

The young Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 m deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 km. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.
Oct 10, 2022 by News Staff

The subsurface of Mars during the Noachian period was likely to have been habitable for microorganisms that feed on hydrogen and produce methane, according to new research. The young Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 m deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater...

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An artist’s impression of an extrasolar submoon. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Nitrous Oxide Could Help Detect Extraterrestrial Life on Exo-Earths

Oct 5, 2022 by News Staff

Nitrous oxide (also known as laughing gas) — a product of microbial nitrogen metabolism — is a compelling exoplanet biosignature gas with distinctive...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Sulfur-Metabolizing Aerial Life Cannot Explain Composition of Venus’ Atmosphere, Scientists Say

Jun 21, 2022 by News Staff

In new research, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has tested the ‘life in the Venusian clouds’ hypothesis. Jordan et al. demonstrate...

An UAP from a declassified video captured by a U.S. Navy aircraft. Image credit: U.S. Navy.

NASA Creates Independent Team to Study UAPs

Jun 9, 2022 by News Staff

NASA’s independent study team will examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) from a scientific perspective. It will focus on identifying available...

An artist’s impression of a free-floating exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Cosmic Hitchhikers: Advanced Aliens Might Use Free-Floating Exoplanets for Interstellar Travel

May 30, 2022 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, Houston Community College researcher Irina Romanovskaya proposes that free-floating...

An artist’s impression of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting an M-dwarf star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Methane in Exoplanetary Atmosphere Could Be Sign of Extrarerrestrial Life

Mar 30, 2022 by News Staff

The case for methane as a biosignature stems from its instability in the planet’s atmosphere. Because photochemical reactions destroy atmospheric methane,...

Coelho et al. provide a guide for the search for surface life on icy worlds based on biota from Earth’s icy environments. Image credit: Jack Madden.

Astrobiologists Create Catalog of Icy World Surface Biosignatures

Mar 15, 2022 by News Staff

With thousands of discovered exoplanets and new missions that will explore our Solar System, the search for life in the Universe has entered a new era....

Four possible domains of planetary intelligence: (a) on a planet with an immature biosphere (such as the Earth during the Archean Eon) there are insufficient feedback loops between life and geophysical coupled systems to exert strong co-evolution; (b) on a planet with a mature biosphere (such as Earth after the Proterozoic) the biosphere exerts strong forcing on the geophysical state establishing full co-evolution of the entire system; this feedback may provide some degree of long-term stabilizing (i.e. Gaian) modulations for the full system; (c) on a planet with an immature technosphere (represented by the current Anthropocene Earth) feedbacks from technological activity produce strong enough forcing on the coupled planetary system to drive it into new dynamical states; these forcings however are unconstrained by intention relative to the health of the civilization producing the technology; (d) on a planet with a mature technosphere, feedback loops between technological activity and biogeochemical and biogeophysical states have been intentionally modified to ensure maximum stability and productivity of the full system; alongside each planetary image, we show a schematic atmospheric spectrum; an immature biosphere would show an atmosphere mostly in equilibrium dominated perhaps by carbon dioxide (CO2); in a mature biosphere life would have changed atmospheric chemistry leading to a highly non-equilibrium state such as perhaps high concentrations of oxygen (O2); in an immature technosphere new ‘pollutant’ species appear, such as CFCs, while industrial activities such as combustion may alter the abundance of other pre-existing gases like CO2 and methane; in a mature technosphere all atmospheric constituents may have their concentrations modified to produce long-term stable and productive states for the full (civilization + biosphere) system; this is represented via a range of possible peaks for different constituents. Image credit: Frank et al., doi: 10.1017/S147355042100029X.

Can Planets Be Intelligent?

Feb 22, 2022 by News Staff

Conventionally, intelligence is seen as a property of individuals. However, it is also known to be a property of collectives. Examples include collective-decision-making...

Our ability to explore the cosmos by direct contact has been limited to a small number of lunar and interplanetary missions. However, NASA’s Starlight program points a path forward to send small, relativistic spacecraft far outside our Solar System via standoff directed-energy propulsion. These miniaturized spacecraft are capable of robotic exploration but can also transport seeds and organisms, marking a profound change in our ability to both characterize and expand the reach of known life. Lantin et al. explore the biological and technological challenges of interstellar space biology, focusing on radiation-tolerant microorganisms capable of cryptobiosis. Image credit: University of California, Santa Barbara.

We Must Consider Benefits of Sending Life Outside of Solar System, Researchers Say

Jan 8, 2022 by News Staff

University of California, Santa Barbara’s professors Philip Lubin and Joel Rothman and their colleagues contemplate launching small cryptobiotic lifeforms...

An artist’s conception of the aerial biosphere in the cloud layers of Venus. In this picture, hypothetical microbial life in the clouds of Venus resides inside protective cloud particles and is carried by winds around the planet. Image credit: J. Petkowska.

Clouds of Venus May Be More Habitable than Previously Thought

Dec 21, 2021 by News Staff

Possible lifeforms in the Venusian clouds could be setting off a cascade of chemical reactions that is making the environment much more habitable, according...

Organic and inorganic biomorphs (small abiotic structures that bear a morphological resemblance to living or fossil microbes): (a) asteroidal trichites radiating from central magnetite grains in a natural volcanic glass; (b) organic microspheres obtained from RNA and quartz mixtures under diagenetic conditions; (c) amphiphilic spherical and tube-like vesicles formed by mixed fatty acids and 1-alkanols (C10-C15) in 10 mM CaCl2; (d) coacervate microdroplets prepared in water by mixing PDDA with ATP; (e, f ) chain-forming and twinning proteinoid microspheres obtained by heating mixtures of amino acids; (g, h) apatite particles formed by double diffusion in gelatin mimicking dividing cells and raised polygonal features in embryos; (i) rod-shaped silica particles formed on the walls of basalt fractures injected with supercritical CO2; (j) cryogenic opal filaments and sheets formed in rapidly freezing silica-rich fluids; (k) cryogenic carbonate segmented filaments obtained by freezing of silica-rich alkaline brines; (l) rod-shaped apatite particles forming within organic films in sediments; (m) fluoroapatite particle precipitated in the presence of citrate, mimicking dividing coccoid cells. Image credit: McMahon & Cosmidis, doi: 10.1144/jgs2021-050.

Martian Rocks May Contain Numerous Types of False Biosignatures, Astrobiologists Say

Nov 22, 2021 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the Journal of the Geological Society, University of Edinburgh’s Dr. Sean McMahon and University of Oxford’s Dr. Julie...

Levin et al suggest that we could have more in common with our extraterrestrial neighbors than initially thought. Image credit: Fernando Ribas.

Astrobiologists Call for New Framework in Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Nov 8, 2021 by News Staff

The question of whether we are alone in the Universe has been a source of wonder for humanity for millennia or more. Advances in planetary sciences, astronomy,...

An artist’s impression of a free-floating exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Free-Floating Exoplanets with Subsurface Oceans Could Sustain Life

Oct 1, 2021 by News Staff

Dr. Manasvi Lingam from the Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology and Professor Avi Loeb of Harvard...

This infrared image from JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter shows night on Venus. Image credit: ISAS / JAXA.

Study: Sunlight Filtering through Venusian Clouds Could Support Earth-Like Photosynthesis

Sep 30, 2021 by News Staff

In a paper published this week in the journal Astrobiology, researchers focused on the possible existence of the Earth-like phototrophy — the process...

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.

Life on Earth Arose Multiple Times and in Multiple Ways, New Theory Says

Aug 17, 2021 by News Staff

In a new theoretical paper, researchers from the Santa Fe Institute provide a new perspective on the origin of life by arguing that life has emerged many...

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Galileo Project Will Search for ‘Evidence of Extraterrestrial Technological Artifacts’

Jul 28, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of astrophysicists has announced a new scientific project to search for evidence of potential astro-archeological artifacts or active...

Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon’s south pole and creating Saturn’s mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. Tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL / SSI / Cassini Imaging Team.

Enceladus’ Subsurface Ocean Has Various Energy Sources for Microbial Life, Study Suggests

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

In a study published this month in the journal Icarus, planetary researchers from the United States and Germany modeled chemical processes in the subsurface...

An artist’s impression of Barnard’s star b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Identify Closest Stars that Could See Earth as Transiting Exoplanet

Oct 23, 2020 by News Staff

Using data gathered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and ESA’s Gaia satellite, a team of U.S. astronomers has identified 1,004...

An artist’s conception of the HR 858 planetary system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Scientists Identify 24 Potentially ‘Superhabitable’ Exoplanets

Oct 5, 2020 by News Staff

A team of geobiologists and astronomers from the United States and Germany has identified 24 extrasolar planets that may have conditions more suitable...

A composite image of Venus as seen by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft. Image credit: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Astronomers Detect Biosignature Gas Phosphine in Atmosphere of Venus

Sep 14, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected phosphine (PH3) gas...

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